Think thoroughly before adopting a cat. They say that cats have nine lives, but that is a myth! Because cats are independent by nature and tend to look after themselves, they often escape difficult, even potentially lethal, situations. However, there are multiple occasions when the cat needs human protection and security.
Therefore, as owners, we must be protective of our feline wards.
Cats do often get into all sorts of trouble – not lastly with some unkind and uncaring citizens who treat curious, adventurous, hungry cats with great brutality.
Feline adventurousness
The young of most mammalian species want to “discover” the world. Kittens and adult cats love to roam, especially the males, and this may be the main reason for problems arising. You may recall that I have written advising that cats are house animals. Well, while this is basically true, they do venture outdoors from time to time. Danger lurks there. A cat on the road at night is confronted with lethal danger. Cats “freeze” from the lights of vehicles, the drivers of which may either be speeding or not seeing the motionless animal. (See 4 below)
Feline instinct
Sometimes, cats’ natural behavioural patterns can get them into trouble. I recall a cat at a ranch in the Rupununi instinctively scratched the Guest House’s furniture. The manager felt the best way to stop this practice was to soak the cat’s tail in kerosene and light it afire; and then boast how the fleeing, screeching cat lit up the savannahs. Needless to say, that manager did not remain in our employ.
Climbing trees
I suppose cats instinctively like to climb trees. Perhaps the lizards or birds attract them and awaken a dormant and pristine passion. Whatever the cause, cats often find themselves in trees, and then might exhibit some difficulty in descending. Young cats panic and begin to cry. The owners, in turn, get frantic, and would even try to climb the tree in an attempt to save the cat (big mistake, one can injure oneself).
The cat, sensing the anxiety, itself becomes nervous and may even lose its footing and injure itself on branches as it engages in a free-fall. All of this is absolutely unnecessary. If a cat, or even if the most pathetically crying kitten, gets stuck in a tree, my advice to you is not to play Tarzan. You and the tree may end up with broken limbs.
Simply leave the blessed cat/kitten alone.
Restrain yourself from calling the Fire Service. I know it sounds harsh to say what goes up must come down, but in a nutshell, that is my sentiment exactly. In my 55 years as a veterinarian practising on four continents, I have yet to experience (or even hear) that a cat died of starvation in a tree. The cat would come down eventually; luring him/her with food may help.
What I do know, however, is that the more the owner becomes excited, the more nervous the tree-bound cat also becomes, and is more likely to fall.
As an aside, I should mention that cats generally do fall on their feet, as the legend educates us. They do have a built-in balance mechanism, not lastly involving the tail, which allows them to land on their feet. However, if the distance of the fall is large enough, the force of gravity would be so great as to break legs, hips, spine, etc.
Instruct your children with enquiring minds not to throw “Felix” out of the window to see whether he would land on his feet.
Roaming at night
Every morning, the streets of Guyana are littered with dead cats. Feline diseases probably do not kill most cats here in Guyana. Uncaring motorists, in all likelihood, do. Even well-fed cats love to roam and ‘hunt’ at night; it is part of the same unconscious, inherent behavioural pattern that I referred to above.
Unfortunately, the bright light emanating from an oncoming vehicle tends to mesmerize the helpless victim and cause the cat to ‘freeze’ on the spot. Crunch! End of story. Try, therefore, to keep your cats indoors at night.
Feline inquisitiveness
You have heard the adage that has come down to us through the centuries, “Curiosity kills the cat”. Well, it proves that the ‘old’ people had developed tested and proven wisdom, and that empirical observation without deep, scientific, research-based knowledge also has great value.
The cat’s interest in its surroundings propels it to pry uninhibitedly and to explore, and in so doing, the cat becomes very vulnerable to physical insult from uncaring humans and from other animals protecting their territory from unwelcome intrusion.
It is for the reasons stated above, and because of those other considerations documented last week, that we must be prepared to be our cat’s protector always, notwithstanding the fact that cats seem to want us to think that they are independent and can fend for themselves.
That may be true when compared with the dependence exhibited by other domesticated species; but, believe me, a cat (as a pet) needs constant attention and protection – even if it does not overtly exhibit this need.
